News

Anniversary of the NT Intervention

Tuesday 22 July, 2008

There are moments in life when reality burns one’s soul, so that the memory is indelibly etched in the psyche. Time may reduce its vividness, but emotions remain palpable. For me, the afternoon of Thursday 21 June 2007 was one such occasion. It began as an ordinary day, although, in hindsight, momentum had been building in the press for some months.

It was as though each day brought some new or rehashed allegation of child sexual abuse. The zealous media scrutiny was ostensibly in the interest of children at risk, but sensationalist content that included graphic descriptions of sexually transmitted disease and depictions of black men drunk with power suggested otherwise. The tragic irony was that for so many years, Aboriginal men and women had been calling out for governments to support them in addressing family violence in our communities, but to no avail.

In the mid-afternoon I flicked through the breaking news on the website of The Australian and was confronted by Howard and Brough’s press conference, where they announced a series of measures designed to address the national emergency in relation to the abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. Among them were compulsory medical checks of children, quarantining of welfare payments, the seizure of Aboriginal lands and the deployment of the military.

The days following were a haze of anxious conversations, anger and disbelief. In the minds of most Australians, the arbitrary confiscation of lands and the sudden influx of soldiers into areas that were never under threat of enemy attack, conjure images of brutal dictatorships. But here it was, in Australia.

In my home of Sydney, news of the Intervention caused barely a ripple outside of the Koori community. In contrast, one can only imagine the fear and confusion among Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, most of whom presumably learnt of the Intervention through channels other than the Federal Government.

In coming months, the recently appointed review body will shed light on the successes and failures of the Intervention. But even before we have the benefit of its rigorous and independent analysis, the Intervention has already revealed some ugly truths about Australian society.

Nothing is more dehumanising than a specious allegation that parents have wilfully failed to uphold their most fundamental obligation – the duty to love their children. When levelled against an individual it can be devastating, as evidenced by the plight of Lindy Chamberlain. And when made against an entire group, it is a certainty that they will be rendered voiceless. Just as Australians willingly believed that refugee parents callously threw infants into the ocean, they embraced the lie that Aboriginal parents do not want the best for their children. That many Indigenous parents live in abject poverty is unarguable, but to suggest that they have nothing to offer their children is abominable. Likewise, the dehumanisation of our men was virulent. As an Aboriginal woman, my heart ached for all of the black men who have added to the richness of my life – Dad, my brother Sam, my uncles, cousins and my precious nephews. I can only imagine what it would have been like to walk in their shoes on 21 June 2007.

The Intervention has also revealed the shallowness of engagement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australia. For a great number of the population, their interaction with Indigenous people is confined to an appreciation of dot paintings, cheering on black athletes from afar and reading Noel Pearson lambast Indigenous people for their own poverty on the pages of The Australian. All of which allow for a comfortable distance between every day life in a prosperous nation and the third world conditions in which many Indigenous Australians live. That most within the electorate prefer it this way was affirmed by the ease with which the Howard Government eroded the fundamental rights of Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.

What is the way forward? Far more unsettling than a military intervention, but ultimately more rewarding, would be for white Australians to look beyond the Qantas motif and AFL, and truly see black humanity. They would discover that below the bruised exterior is an indomitable resilience that has its origins in the knowledge that our past, present and future are written in the soil. Through embracing the humanity of Indigenous people, white Australians may not only understand the injustice of punishing people for their disadvantage, but they may also begin to reconcile with their own prints in the soil.

Andrew Williamson 01 Aug 2008 6:09:11am
Yes, well written Nicole. Just on your last comments; I agree that recognition (in general) is the key to reconciliation by white Australians. However, it too infrequent that media stories contribute toward this recognition of the indigenous plight(or the plight of others disadvantaged)."Where's our pride in our indigenous Australian Heritage?" -I say. However this is something that's learned and people (whites) wont learn it if they don't see it. ie. put the positive indigenous stories in front of everyone on a platter too not just those like in June last year. On your earlier comments of the effects of the 'intervention' and coverage. I looked on in horror at the reporting of June 07 - The horror being, in my mind, the unrelenting unbalanced positive view of the media on the actions of the Howard Govt. I recognise what maybe the media thought they were doing in highlighting what this sudden and disproportionate action was 'supposed' to be accomplishing. However, I couldn't help thinking what the affect this would have had on good, caring indigenous men I knew that are no doubt fathers like me now. It is probably worth reflecting on one slight positive; That was that similar concerns were raised by the other white Australians at the all white apathetic, generally unrecognising lunch table I now sit at. This may signify some embracing of the humanity of indigenous people, that I wouldn't have expected from some of those that were discussing it. Lets hope that some of the disproportionate action and media coverage transforms into something more balanced and constructive for the community.

Ken Canning 25 Jul 2008 12:48:41pm
So very well written Nicole and yes, it about time that white australia recognised the humanity of our Peoples, for it is via this recognition, the devastation that the past and present invasions have has on us.